Gordon Strachan to rest Celtic stars against Canada

Gordon Strachan praises the 'high energy' in the Canadian team ahead of Wednesday's friendly, which is live on Sky Sports

Gordon Strachan praises the 'high energy' in the Canadian team ahead of Wednesday's friendly, which is live on Sky Sports

Gordon Strachan will give his Celtic regulars a rest on Wednesday when Scotland host Canada in a friendly.

The Easter Road game is serving as a warm-up for Sunday's World Cup Qualifier against Slovenia at Hampden Park.

Strachan will hold back some of his key men for the weekend as he aims to revive a qualifying campaign that has yielded just four points from four games - including a 3-0 defeat at Wembley in November.

He said: "They have played a lot of games. Broony (Scott Brown) is up to 40 games, Stuart Armstrong has played a lot of games, Kieran Tierney has played every game he could possibly have played in apart from the injury he got, and Craig Gordon has played a lot.

"I spoke to a lot of people at Celtic and they are quite happy with that. They played on Sunday, they have had a lot of games and they are not part of this build-up.

The Tartan Army watched Scotland lose 3-0 at Wembley in November

"Leigh Griffiths has not had as many games. He could be the exception and probably will see minutes on Wednesday."

Strachan could announce his line-up in advance and is promising the Tartan Army a high-tempo performance.

He said: "We are hoping that the side we announce - we might announce it that bit earlier, you never know - will see a side that play with high energy and in attack and do a lot of good things that people like to see.

"It is not easy at this time of the year for everybody, for fans and players. We would like them to come along and give us their support because we need it, we really need it.